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Phantom Limb
Phantom Limb (birth name Hamilton G. Fantomas) is a fictional supervillain on the Adult Swim television series The Venture Bros. He is a parody of articulate and "gentlemanly" supervillains, such as Magneto and Doctor Doom. His code name is a reference to phantom limb syndrome, while his true name (Hamilton G. Fantomas) is a reference to the French supervillain Fantômas created by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre,Publick Nuisance - The Invisible Hand of Fate as well as the science fiction detective Gil Hamilton (who lost an arm and developed telekinesis before the arm was replaced). His costume also bears a strong visual resemblance to the Lee Falk comic strip hero the Phantom. Background Phantom Limb's background is shrouded in mystery and rumor, with the various characters in the Venture Brothers universe each claiming different origins for the character as well as his connection to disgraced quizshow contestant Billy "Quizboy" Whalin. "The Invisible Hand of Fate", which was told via flashback from Billy Whalin's point of view, offers the most accurate origin for the character. Hamilton G. Fantomos was the last male son of a long line of costumed adventurers. Unfortunately for Hamilton, he was born severe birth defects that left him with withered and deformed arms and legs. As a result of this, the ultra-intelligent Hamilton was disowned by his family and forced instead to become a college professor, with his deformed limbs cloaked within artificial limbs designed by robotics expert Mike Sorayama, a former student of his. A picture in Now Museum, Now You Don't reveals that as a young man, Hamilton was part of the "Boys' Brigade", and worked alongside Jonas Venture and Richard Impossible, also part of the group. Bitter at his deformed body and denied his chance to follow in his family's legacy of super-heroism, Hamilton turned to villainy instead. He became a member of the Guild of Calamitous Intent, ultimately using his college classroom to recruit fellow "freaks" into the Guild. This placed him within the radar of Colonel Hunter Gathers, who was investigating the Guild. Along with his protege Brock Samson, the two government agents forced disgraced trivia contest contestant Billy Whalin to spying on Professor Fantomos for them, in hopes of busting Hamilton in the act so they could arrest him as part of their quest to expose the Guild. To make Hamilton trust Billy, Colonel Gathers was able to get noted scientist Stephen Hawking to do Billy's homework, a move that made Hamilton recruit the supposedly brilliant Whalin to help him with his new experiment: an accelerated muscle regenerator device that would, in theory, restore Hamilton's limbs to normal form. However, as the device malfunctioned, Billy's inexperience with the technology caused the device to create a mini-black hole that sucked his eye from its socket, with the eye causing an explosion within the black hole, knocking Hamilton out of the building where the experiment was conducted. When he woke up, Hamilton found his arms and legs were normal sized and functional - they were also invisible and possessed a lethal "death touch", as an unfortunate student found out. Hamilton renamed himself "The Phantom Limb" and began his career as a super-villain in full. Despite not so humble beginnings (which involved, according to Phantom Limb, surviving on a diet of Spaghetti-Os and driving a Honda Accord with a ghost on the hood as his vehicle), Phantom Limb quickly rose up the ranks of the Guild of Calamitous Intent, ultimately obtaining a mansion home and an army of henchmen known as "The Shadowmen". He also began a relationship with a former student named Sheila. Convincing his lover to become a super-villain (Lady Au Pair), he ultimately took her under his wing and remade her into "Queen Etheria". Though he referred to Etheria as his second-in-command, Hamilton's sexist attitudes towards women manifested itself as far as treating Sheila as glorified eye-candy and not allowing her any say in his villainous schemes. The relationship would ultimately collapse, as Queen Etheria was seduced away from Phantom Limb by one of his own henchmen, Malcom. Though a "Shadowman" by day, Malcom was by night the villainous "Monarch", a butterfly-themed villain who constantly tried to destroy Doctor Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture. After seducing Sheila during a formal gathering of super-villains at Hamilton's mansion estate, Monarch convinced Sheila to not only dump Phantom Limb but to also join him as his new second-in-command. Though Phantom Limb ultimately caught the two post-coitus, Monarch was able to lie his way of being exposed as a lowly henchman by claiming to be a retired super-villain named 'Manotaur', a lie that Phantom Limb believed without question. As the newly renamed "Doctor Girlfriend' and Monarch continued to wage war against the Venture family, the Phantom Limb used his high ranking position within the Guild to shield his ex from Guild reprisals when he discovered that the two were illegally "arching" Doctor Venture (Guild members are required to have permission of their rival to "arch" them). Phantom Limb first appearance in the series was in the episode Tag Sale -- You're It!, where he is one of many super-villains attending a yard sale Dr. Venture held on his compound. Hamilton runs into Dr. Girlfriend while the Monarch is in the bathroom and chides her for still being with "the butterfly". When he asks her to rejoin him (even offering to reverse roles as far as being Dr. Girlfriend's subordinate), Sheila angrily rejects him, stating that she "has a good thing going on now". Limb, still carrying a torch for his ex-girlfriend (he kept her old costume in storage, with a few crusty spots on it which he told Doctor Girlfriend were his tears) would ultimately embark on a complicated scheme to frame Monarch for a "murder" of a police officer, who in truth was paid off by Phantom Limb to allow the Guild to fake his death. The plan would work, though with help from King Gorilla (who had been rebuked by Phantom Limb over the Guild helping King Gorilla escape from prison), Monarch would escape from prison. Doctor Girlfriend eventually grows bored with the more realistic and even mundane aspects of Phantom Limb's crimes, as well as his pomposity and obsession with developing a cultured appearance and air. She seems to miss the over-the-top villainy of the Monarch over the more white-collar crimes of the Phantom Limb, which included selling famous stolen artwork. When the Monarch seems to manage to kidnap Doctor Girlfriend back in "Hate Floats" (Monarch had actually dropped her out of sight), Phantom Limb enlisted Brock Samson's aid in getting her back, claiming that the Monarch had kidnapped the Venture family (they did manage to get Dr. Venture). The two happily cooperate in the rescue, but Brock angered Phantom Limb by repeatedly questioning whether Dr. Girlfriend was a transsexual, leading to Phantom Limb shooting Brock in the neck with a tranquillizer dart. Later on, Phantom Limb is dared by the Monarch to unleash the full force of the Guild of Calamitous Intent to destroy the Ventures. Phantom Limb would have succeeded if not for Brock Samson; impressed by the fact that Brock was willing to kill Phantom Limb, knowing full well it would make him and everyone he loved marked for death by the Guild, Phantom Limb called off the hit on the Venture family and agreed to Brock's demand that Phantom Limb stay away from the Ventures. In the two-part season finale, "Showdown at Cremation Creek", Phantom Limb is officially dumped by Dr. Girlfriend, after Monarch reconciled with her behind Limb's back and ultimately proposed marriage. Furthermore, the Guild Sovereign refuses to allow Phantom Limb to kill Monarch or to do anything to stop the wedding from happening. As a result, Phantom Limb stages a coup d'état, planning to kill both the Sovereign and the Monarch, whose wedding the Sovereign is attending. He gets his supporters Klaus Nomi and Iggy Pop to assassinate the Sovereign, who is revealed to be international superstar (and Homo Superior shapeshifter) David Bowie. Limb nearly succeeds, but Bowie's shapeshifting powers allow him to trick Iggy Pop and survive his assassination attempt. The combination of Bowie's survival, Brock Samson leading The Monarch's henchmen in battle against the Guild, and the accidental intervention by the Order of the Triad brings Phantom Limb's betrayal to a (literal) crashing halt through a massive aircrash involving the Monarch's airship, the X-1 (which the Order of the Triad commandeered to assist in the battle), and Limb's own aerial assault vehicle. Limb survives the crash and escapes, but loses an arm, a leg, and a third appendage implied to be his penis (discreetly taken by the Alchemist for his own use). For his treachery, Bowie vows to use the combined resources of the Guild to kill Phantom Limb, while the Monarch declares Phantom Limb his new arch-nemesis. In the post-credits sequence of the season 3 premiere, a disheveled looking Phantom Limb (with a visible, prosthetic arm) is seen attacking Manotaur, claiming that "no one retires from Phantom Limb's shit list". The scene comes after the flashback sequence where Monarch uses the retired Manotaur's name when caught post-coitus with Dr. Girlfriend, giving the implication that Manotaur either is being killed in a case of mistaken identity (due to Phantom Limb thinking he was the Monarch) or for some as of yet revealed slight that Manotaur committed against Phantom Limb. Personality Phantom Limb is a cold, calculating, intelligent, utterly ruthless, and tremendously cunning super-villain. He's extremely egocentric and pretentious, which is perhaps his greatest weakness - he seems unaware of how he can offend people, underestimate people, or have his plans go awry. He also has a sexist streak which can be off-putting to women. Phantom Limb looks down upon the Monarch, yet is so self-involved as a Guild operative (i.e. pencil-pusher) that he takes time out to organize the Monarch's "re-admittance" to the organization, complete with paperwork (though given the later reveal that Monarch was not in good standing with the Guild, said scene could have been just for show). Backstory controversy The episode "Victor. Echo. November." offered a variety of rumored scenerios of how Phantom Limb came into being. The Monarch, Hank Venture, and Monarch henchmen #21 each give a version of Phantom Limb's origin, each only similar in that Master Billy Quizboy is part of it. *The Monarch attributes Phantom Limb's villainy to a failed "muscle growth accelerator" created by himself and his 12-year-old roommate, Master Billy Quizboy. The device malfunctioned, causing Phantom Limb's arms and legs to become invisible and giving him his "death touch" power by way of accelerating his limbs beyond the speed of light. Billy's missing hand is a result of trying to turn it off. The Monarch goes on to explain that another side effect of the accident is that Hamilton became a "humorless dick." This story seems closest to the true happening of events as shown in the episode "The Invisible Hand of Fate". *Henchman #21 claims that Phantom Limb and Master Billy Quizboy were heroic scientists working on a time machine they had funded with money won on the game show Card Sharks. During a test run it malfunctioned and teleported just Phantom Limb's arms and legs, as well as Billy's hand when he reached out in an attempt to help, forty years into the future, where they now wait. *Hank Venture gives the most ridiculous telling of events. According to him, Phantom Limb was a stage magician who, during a performance for the Queen of England, accidentally caused his limbs to disappear, transported to the moon with a number of other magical accouterments. Phantom Limb then chopped off and ate Billy's hand. Powers and abilities The Phantom Limb's arms and legs are completely invisible (hence his name) and possess the ability to kill or incapacitates others through physical contact. When he uses his power, the blood vessels and bones in his arms light up with a flashing red and green pattern. His invisible limbs and/or their strange powers are also capable of deflecting projectiles. Phantom Limb has complete control over his powers, allowing him to touch people without killing them. Direct bodily contact is not always necessary for Phantom Limb to use his powers, as he kills a security guard by grabbing the man's gun with a gloved hand. David Bowie, the Guild Sovereign, was shown to be immune to Limb's death-touch powers, though this may be the result of his changling ability. While Phantom Limb is dangerous on his own, he is nothing compared to the resources at his command. As a high-ranking member of the Guild of Calamitous Intent, he has access to the Guild's full resources of minions and equipment at a moment's notice, giving him a large reach regarding evil actions. As such, he can order a person's death on a whim. His influence within the Guild allowed him to convince both Klaus Nomi and Iggy Pop to join his coup d'état against David Bowie without Bowie realizing that the two (who served as his bodyguards) had betrayed him until they had made their move. References Category:Television supervillains Category:The Venture Bros. characters